


Midnight Panic

by summerstorm



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-15
Updated: 2010-03-15
Packaged: 2017-10-08 00:28:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/70838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerstorm/pseuds/summerstorm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are things about dating a girl as smart and responsible as Rory that Dean didn't see coming at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Midnight Panic

When he started dating Rory, Dean knew there'd be a lot of hanging out in bookstores and watching old movies and making study dates that turned out to be ten minutes of making out and two hours of actual studying. He knew Rory wasn't really the kind of girl who dressed up and put on several layers of make-up and party until morning. He liked that she wasn't that kind of girl. She had fun her own way.

So he didn't go in blind, but there are definitely things about dating a girl as smart and responsible as Rory that Dean didn't see coming at all. Her addiction to junk food—and his subsequent wishing it wasn't a lost cause to try to sway her over to healthier things—is one of them. The way she keeps herself awake to study hours into the night by calling him every thirty minutes? That's another.

He smiles fondly when he picks up the phone and she says, "My calculator isn't working. I swear I didn't do anything to it. There was that one time where I was trying to find this pencil on the bottom of my backpack and it fell out, but it only hit the rug, so it was soft, and I was sitting down so it wasn't even that high a fall and that wouldn't have ruined it forever, would it? And my mom left it in the microwave once, but the microwave wasn't on at any point before I fished it out of there. It wasn't even plugged in."

"Hey, calm down," Dean says, chuckling low so she won't hear him; she doesn't seem to appreciate it when he laughs at her neuroses, and Dean mostly likes to keep her happy. "Have you checked the batteries?"

"That—that could be it," Rory says, words slowing down. "Good thinking, Dean Forester."

"And that's why I'm the one you call in the middle of the night to talk about the possible death of an electronic device," he says, half appreciative and half sarcastic.

"Yep, that's exactly why," Rory says. She sounds like she's smiling. He thinks she's cheered up now that she has a solution to her problem.

There's some rustling in the background, and he asks, "Wait, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to get new batteries," she says, muffled. She must be putting on her coat.

He grabs his watch from his nightstand and takes a look. "It's eleven thirty. I'm sure it can wait 'til tomorrow."

"That would involve falling behind," Rory says. "I don't fall behind. Chilton will crush me if I fall behind."

"And we can't have that, can we," he says flatly. Then, "Can't you ask your mom to go get them for you?"

"I don't think that would be a good idea," Rory says, like the mere concept of Lorelai buying batteries is crazy. And now that he thinks about it, it kind of is: Lorelai would just go pester Luke and spend half an hour rambling until he figured out what kind of batteries she needs. Rory can just drive straight to the nearest convenience store and—probably crash her mom's car by thinking about algorithms or whatever instead of keeping her eyes on the road.

"Hold on," he decides suddenly, jumping to his feet, "I'll drive you there."

He thinks he hears a celebratory yes, but it's too muffled to be sure, and then Rory says sweetly, devilish, "Really?"

"Yeah," he says. "You can grab your books and keep studying while we get there."

"Thank you thank you thank you," Rory says. "I'll pick you up in five minutes."

Going on midnight runs for office supplies? Definitely not something Dean thought he'd be doing on a regular basis if he dated Rory Gilmore.

Then again, when he decided he needed to at least talk to her, he was fully aware she wasn't like any other girl.


End file.
